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ChildFund International's Response to Ebola Crisis

Operational Summary:

ChildFund has been operational in Liberia since 2003, Sierra Leone since 1985, and Guinea since 2005. These three countries have been most affected by the Ebola outbreak. ChildFund’s goal is to reduce transmission of Ebola virus in all three through community awareness raising and provision of additional support to district and national efforts to apply proven, evidence‐based outbreak prevention and control measures.

ChildFund has found that raising awareness through local staff and community mobilizers is most effective, as the information is coming from people the communities know and trust. In Guinea and Sierra Leone, ChildFund accomplishes this through its key local partner organizations within communities. In Liberia, ChildFund has partnerships with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Education. ChildFund’s main area of operation in Liberia is Lofa County, the county hit hardest by the Ebola virus, where the organization works closely with county health and education teams to raise awareness about the Ebola virus.

The aim of the project is to reduce morbidity and mortality due to Ebola through prompt identification, notification and effective management of cases, as well as effective social mobilization and coordination of response activities. The project requires activities to be implemented at community, district and national levels to break the chains of transmission.

Objectives:

• Enhance public awareness about Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) at the community level, including risk factors for transmission, effective control measures and how to prevent additional cases.

• Strengthen coordination and communication mechanisms among key actors responding to the outbreak of Ebola (WHO, CDC, government line ministries, international NGOs and civil society organizations) and among community stakeholders.

• Reinforce government line ministries’ capacity to deliver appropriate psychosocial services and material support to EVD‐affected children and families, including their acceptance and reintegration into their communities.

• Strengthen community resilience and coping mechanisms through capacity building of community health personnel and other first responders to improve early detection, self‐reporting, rapid and safe referral of suspected cases, quarantine and contact tracing.

• Create a safe and supportive working environment for ChildFund staff, local partners and community health workers attached to government line ministries to work jointly in the three EVD‐affected countries.

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